North Cascades National Park

Posted 2 years ago by Mike

We left Vancouver BC and crossed the border back to the United States. It has been one year since we were last in our home state of Washington. Wow, we are almost back home. But before completing this journey, we had one more National Park to visit — North Cascades.

We stayed in the small town of Marblemount which borders the west side of the park. Not many RV park options. Our first night at the park we could hear a late-night argument between drunks. Not exactly a pleasant experience, but fortunately the rest of our stay was quiet and peaceful. Out of all the RV parks we had stayed — probably 50 or more — this was the first time we had anything that made us feel less than totally safe.

On our first day in the park, we hiked the Diablo Lake Trail. Alot of cloud cover so we didn’t get any stunning mountain/glacier views but the hike went through some nice forest and had views of the dam which was impressive. One section of the Skagit River abruptly changed in color from glacier blue to dark green — probably caused by the dam, nonetheless it was an interesting anomaly.

Next, we hiked Pyramid Lake. Another day of cloud cover to hide the mountains which was disappointing, but it is the Northwest and it is the beginning of fall. This trail did go through some quiet, serene old growth forest which made it worthwhile because the lake was not much of a lake, just a pond 🙂

Finally, on our last day in the park, the skies cleared up and we had some stunning mountain and glacier views. We hiked the Thunder Knob Trail. A perfect, cool NW early fall day which felt like a fitting end to our journey.

I can’t believe I am writing that our crazy, year-long adventure of travel and living in an RV is at and end. Actually it has been 15 months since we sold our downtown Portland condo and moved into our travel trailer to hit the road. Part of me is sad to see this chapter in our life close. Part of me is excited to begin the next chapter — living abroad in city of Braga, Portugal.

This may be the last post for a while. Thanks to everyone who read this blog. I hope it inspires you to seek out your own adventure and strive to make your dreams a reality.